Constitution Court may be next on Forest Park’s list of making streets, alleyways and parking lots more sustainable.
Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution at the Oct. 27 council meeting that allows the village to apply for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s (IEPA) green infrastructure grant opportunities. In its application, the village requests $818,362 to install permeable pavers, new underdrains, catch basins, storm sewer connections and a rain garden at the Constitution Court parking lot.
The goal is to create a more sustainable parking lot off of Madison Street by slowing the amount of stormwater and removing pollutants from it before it enters the sewer system.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be over $1 million, so the village would front about $272,000.
At the Oct. 27 meeting, Commissioner Maria Maxham asked about the current status of the parking lot and whether it needs to be redone right now.
“I would love to see Constitution Court redone,” Maxham said. “My questions just come from an abundance of caution and concern about our financial priorities.” The village projects a $15 million deficit in fiscal year 2026.
Sal Stella, the director of the public works department, said the east part of the Constitution Court parking lot was redone four or five years ago, but the west side wasn’t.
“The west side structures are crumbling, so that needs to be fixed, and the asphalt is in disarray,” Stella said at the meeting. Though the public works department has been patching the west side of the lot, “the whole thing needs to be done,” he said.
Stella said that just redoing the parking lot’s asphalt and restriping would cost about half the amount of the grant, but likely only last a decade. So the village wants to overhaul the parking lot, which Stella said would extend the life of the lot by about 40 years
“The maintenance is less. You don’t have to keep up with potholes,” Stella said of a more sustainable Constitution Court parking lot. He added that the village would likely need to replace the lot’s aggregate every five years.
Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin said that an update to the Constitution Court parking lot would help with flooding in the area. She recounted periods of heavy rainfall in 2023 and 2024 that left Thomas Avenue residents with flooded basements, as she then helped them get FEMA funding for damage.
“We still don’t have the combined sewers in that area. So the work that we’re doing for that is on our agenda tonight for the alley improvements,” said Melin-Rogovin, referencing a passed agenda item that approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to create another green alley. She added that making Constitution Court greener “would go a long way to help that, until we’re able to do sewer separation as well.”
